Meeting Notice

Angeline Lee, VPE cum Area W3 Governor

Dear Friendship Members,

For our next meeting on 5 April we have a treat for you. The TME for our Magical Transformation meeting is none other than Past President James Arokiasamy. Our TME maestro will perform his magic to create enchanting evening of magical experience.

 

The cast of role players is almost filled up and here is what we have in store for you.

 

Table Topics Master Andy - fresh from his triumphant Ice Breaker debut at our 15 March meeting, he is now ready for another Superman role, to entice volunteers to be transformed into better impromptu speakers.

Project Speakers Ian, Susan, Past President Lay Theng and Vincent. Will there be shouts of "encore" after their presentations?

General Evaluator - the President of MIM KL Toastmasters Club who has also achieved the DTM award twice. Ladies and gentlemen, our GE is DTM Geoff Andrew!

Evaluators VPPR Alexandra, VPE Angeline, Amazing Grace and Past President Kim. One more evaluator slot available for anyone else who wants the experience of transforming a good speech into a better speech by providing constructive feedback.

Grammarian Past President Freddie, who has informed me that he will be a strict Grammarian. Speakers, beware!

Ah Counter Daphne, who is taking her second meeting role in her second meeting as a Toastmaster. Bravo!

Timer - the person synonymous with the title of Mr. Rolex - SAA Sivadas

Not forgetting our President Zaiton who will be delivering the Presidential address and presenting various awards at the end of the meeting.

 

Block your schedule for 5 April for our 7 PM meeting at Bukit Kiara. This one and only Magical Transformation show is not to be missed!

 

 

Your VPE,
Angeline

Photos @ 15 Mar 2011 (Part 2)

Report by Angeline Lee, VPE cum Area W3 Governor

Angeline Lee

Respect to the Individual

At our “Respect to the Individual” meeting on 15 March 2011, TME Alexandra asked us to think positively and say “Awesome!” With this awesome start to the meeting, it was definitely not going to be just another club meeting. With 5 Past Presidents in attendance, Immediate Past President Ben jokingly told us that eventually, all of us will be Past Presidents of Friendship.

After giving us a brief introduction to the history of Toastmasters and revered (word of the day) founder Dr. Ralph C. Smedley, TME Alexandra passed control to VPM Chee Hoe to conduct the voting in of new member procedure. As there were no objections from members of Friendship, Daphne and Phileo are now part of our Friendship family. Welcome to the club, Daphne and Phileo!

New members Daphne and Phileo with VPM Chee Hoe

Table Topics Master Sivadas had 5 quick volunteers for his Table Topics questions revolving around the meeting theme of Respect. The volunteers were Ben, Ian, KC, Freddie and James. It was indeed challenging for me, as Table Topics Evaluator to evaluate 4 Past Presidents and a future President of Friendship. For his impromptu speech delivered with energy, animated facial expressions and expressive body language, Past President James was the audience’s choice for Best Table Topics Speaker.

James is Best Table Topics Speaker

In his “I am a Superman” speech, Andy made us laugh out loud twice. Not bad for someone who told us that his fear of public speaking held him back for 6 months before he decided to do his Ice Breaker speech. We found out that he is the apple of his mother’s eye. She always wants the best for him. This 29 year old bachelor - single but not available - said he was happy to be part of the Friendship family and thrilled that we have given him a nickname - Superman. This Superman promises to practise and improve his public speaking skills, and someday will deliver a powerful speech like President Barack Obama!

For Lay Theng’s “Be Prepared” speech, her opening sentence was memorable. Quoting from our revered founder, she told us that “An unprepared speaker has the right to be afraid.” With that, she smoothly moved on to how she thought she was prepared for everything until her mother’s sudden illness last year. She was devastated to know that her mother might only have 6 months to live. Happily for us, the doctor’s prognosis turned out to be incorrect and she is now spending more time with her family with the lesson learnt that nothing is permanent in life.

For President Zaiton’s “Visionary Leader” and “Developing a Mission” presentation from the Leadership Excellence Series, we learnt that a visionary leader first starts with a vision, a mental picture of what we wish to achieve or to aspire to be. She gave us two exercises to test our understanding of Toastmasters International vision and mission statement. 

From left: Daphne (Timer), Abe, Ian (Ah Counter), Andy (Project Speaker), Phileo , VPM Chee Hoe & President Zaiton

After the break, our General Evaluator Calvin Lim from D’Utama Toastmasters Club took control and conducted the Evaluation Session. His evaluators comprising of Angeline, Freddie and KC, as well as Grammarian Wai Yee, Ah Counter Ian and Timer Daphne did not disappoint him.

Calvin Lim, the GE in action

Despite her fear that her command of English is lacking, first-timer Grammarian Wai Yee was able to deliver her report on the incorrect language usage, as well as the beautiful sentences used during the meeting. Ah Counter Ian went one step beyond an Ah Counter's duties by perusing previous Ah Counter reports and informing us whether we have made any improvement since our 4 January meeting.

Wai Yee presenting her Grammarian report

Ian presenting his well-researched Ah Counter report

After her TME duties were completed for the evening, President Zaiton presented VPPR Alexandra with her District 51 Achieving Greatness Together pin. It was a token of appreciation from District 51, to Alexandra, for obtaining her CC award. Keep up the good work, Alexandra!

VPPR Alexandra receiving her District 51 pin from President Zaiton

After the meeting, we saw Ian and Andy in deep discussion. Encouraged by his evaluator Freddie’s motivating evaluation, Andy has quickly asked for another speaking slot on 19 April, whereas Ian will be presenting his project speech on 5 April.

Ian and Andy in a deep discussion after the meeting

Friendship members and guests, do join us at our next meeting on 5 April because we have a treat for you. For our “Magical Transformation” meeting, our TME is none other than Past President James Arokiasamy. Our TME Maestro will perform his magic to create an enchanting evening of magical experience. Block your schedule on 5 April and see you at our meeting at 7 PM at Bukit Kiara. This one and only “Magical Transformation” show is not to be missed!

Photos @ 15 Mar 2011 (Part 1)

Photos by Chor Chee Hoe, VPM

Chor Chee Hoe

Ian has a passion for Table Topics. My goodness, who is that 'flying' behind him?

Is PP Ben Fong doing a magic show with his hands during Table Topics?

PP KC Lim allows his fingers to do the talking.

PP Freddie Yap, a penny for your thoughts!

PP James Arokiasamy and his animated hand gestures.

President Zaiton giving a presentation on Leadership Excellence

Newsletter_Volume 9 Issue 14

FRIEND'S CONNECTION

Volume 9 Issue 14

Newsletter was initiated by Mohamad Abdullah DTM in 2000.

PP Ben Fong took over as editor from 04 July 2006 to 20 October 2009.

Angeline Lee was the editor from November 2009 to June 2010.

Alexandra Lau is the current editor. 

Alexandra Lau

Page 1 (click image to enlarge)

Page 2 (click image to enlarge)

Meeting Programme_15 Mar 2011

Click image to enlarge

Meeting Notice

Angeline Lee, VPE, cum Area W3 Governor

Dear Friendship Members

One of Toastmasters International’s core values is Respect for the individual. Through its member clubs, Toastmasters International helps men and women learn the arts of speaking, listening, and thinking – vital skills that promote self-actualization, enhance leadership potential, foster human understanding, and contribute to the betterment of mankind.

 

The Toastmasters educational program is a self-paced learning program and we respect each individual's decision on how much, how fast and how soon they wish to progress in the journey to be better speakers and leaders.

 

For our next meeting on 15 March, we are pleased to announce that there are several members amongst us who just can't wait to present their next project speeches.

 

Andy - our "superman" will be doing his Ice Breaker speech. Chee Hoe his mentor will be guiding him in his first project from the Competent Communication manual.

 

Lay Theng - will our revered (word of the day) Past President be able to further inspire us and motivate us to take up the challenging and rewarding Friendship Club Officer roles for the coming term 2011/2012 ? I think all of us look forward to being inspired and Lay Theng, with her meticulous preparation will do her best to inspire us.

 

Zaiton - presenting her second Leadership Excellence Series talk, in line with her dedication to excellence in her role as our Club President.

 

Our TME is VPPR Alexandra, who did not hesitated when offered the plum role of being the emcee of the evening.

 

Thank you to GE Calvin Lim from D'Utama Toastmasters Club for taking time off to join us and guide us on how to further improve during our Respect for the Individual meeting. His evaluation team will comprise of Grace, Angeline, Past Presidents KC, Freddie and Kim as well as Grammarian Wai Yee, Ah Counter Ian and Timer Daphne, who is our newest member. Welcome on board, Daphne !

Ladies & gentlemen, we are all set to have another fantabulous meeting. Join us on 15 March and bring guests along to make our meeting merrier !

 

Your VPE,

Angeline

Photos @ 01 Mar 2011

Report by Angeline Lee, VPE, cum Area W3 Governor

Angeline Lee

Trust & Integrity

For our “Trust and Integrity” meeting at Dewan Berjaya on 1 March 2011, Friendship played host to nine guests. Thanks to Susan, VPM Chee Hoe and Past President Kim Chow for inviting many guests to join us. For some of us, it was an invigorating walk to our meeting venue, as the usual car park was full so we had to park further away.

Our crop of guests comprised of Rosalie, Lana, Daphne, Lee Ching, Sharon, Kim, Paul (Sunway Toastmasters Club), Table Topics Evaluator Kimmy (UM Toastmasters Club) and General Evaluator Ahmad Zakie Shariff (KL Advanced Toastmasters Club).

VPPR Alexandra with guests Rosalie, Lana, Daphne, VPE Angeline, Susan & Lee Ching

VPM Chee Hoe with Paul, Kimmy and PP Kim Chow

Toastmaster of the Evening (TME) KC Lim conducted the meeting with his trademark aplomb and touched on the meeting theme by explaining that one cannot have trust without integrity. 

Our Invocation speaker Alexandra enlightened us on the Chinese character for person (ren) that symbolizes trust.

We have three pieces of happy news to share. Firstly, Susan informed us she has just received a promotion after joining Friendship. Congratulations to Susan!

Secondly, Susan’s guest, Daphne, announced that she has made the decision to join us, thus becoming the latest addition to Friendship Toastmasters Club.

Thirdly, VPM Chee Hoe unveiled the results of Friendship’s Membership Campaign which started on 19 Aug 2010 and ended on 28 Feb 2011. For her effort in bringing guests to our meetings and effortlessly converting her guests to members, Susan was the clear winner. Congratulations once again to Susan.

Susan is the winner of Friendship Club's membership campaign

First-time Table Topics Master Ian had no lack of volunteers who tried out their impromptu speaking skills on the various leadership topics that he provided. Our first volunteer was Freddie, who was keen to put in a practice session before contesting in Area W3 Table Topics Contest on 3 March. Susan, who has not shown a lack of appetite for improvement was the second volunteer. We then heard from two courageous guests Lee Ching and Rosalie. They spoke with such ease that it hardly seems possible that they have not tried out Table Topics before.

Rosalie is joint Best Table Topics Speaker

Susan is joint Best Table Topics Speaker

Wai Yee asked us “Have you eaten breakfast today?” and explained the benefits of starting the day right by taking breakfast. Past President Lay Theng continued her series of motivational talk to take up club officers role in her “Yes, I will go for it!” speech. Chee Hoe presented his tenth and final Competent Communication speech in his speech about “The 3 Cs”. Past President Freddie gave us the desert of the evening in his “Like Fine Wine” contest speech for Area W3 International Speech Contest.

PP Freddie Yap is Best Project Speaker

Our General Evaluator (GE) Zakie was suave and sophisticated in the Evaluation Session. His smooth as silk presentation was something many aspiring GEs seek to emulate. He had praise for TME KC, Table Topics Master Ian and evaluators Ben, Grace and Kim.

President Zaiton presenting a thank-you card to GE Zakie

The awards for our “Trust and Integrity” meeting went to

Best Table Topics Speaker – Rosalie & Susan

Best Prepared Speech – Freddie

Best Speech Evaluator – Grace

Membership Campaign Winner – Susan

Grace Tan is Best Evaluator

Our next meeting is on 15 March 2011 with the meeting theme “Respect to the Individual”. We are happy to inform you that our newest member Daphne does not hesitate to embark on her Toastmasters leadership journey by taking up the humble yet important Timer role. 

To our future guests, why don’t you start on your journey to become a better speaker and leader by taking one simple step? Join us on 15 March. It may lead to many wonderful outcome as it has for Susan who became part of our Friendship family in October 2010.

To our Friendship members, it is always wonderful to see you at our meetings, so do not deprive us of the joy and happiness your presence will bring to our meeting. See you on 15 March !

Newsletter_Volume 9 Issue 13

FRIEND'S CONNECTION

Volume 9 Issue 13

Newsletter was initiated by Mohamad Abdullah, DTM, in 2000

Ben Fong took over as editor from 04 July 2006 to 20 October 2009

Angeline Lee was the editor from November 2009 to June 2010

Alexandra Lau is the current editor

Alexandra Lau

Page 1 (Click image to enlarge)

Page 1 (click image to enlarge)

Meeting Programme_01 Mar 2011

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Meeting Notice

Angeline Lee, VPE, cum Area W3 Governor

Dear Friendship Members,

We shall be meeting next week with the meeting theme Trust and Integrity. Our trustworthy TME is none other than Past President KC, who will be conducting the meeting with his usual flair. Joining us as GE is CTM Zakie from KL Advanced Toastmasters Club, an experienced and eloquent Toastmasters.

 

Friendship's newest CC, Alexandra, will be inspiring us with her Invocation speech. Ian will be trying out the role of Table Topics Master for the first time. For this meeting, this avid table topics speaker will be preparing the questions instead of volunteering to answer them.

 

For the prepared speeches, we shall also have the pleasure of listening to 4 speeches. Wai Yee will be presenting her "Say It With Words" speech, Lay Theng will "Persuade With Power" and Chee Hoe will "Inspire the Audience". Freddie will be presenting his contest speech for Area W3 International Speech Contest which will be held on Thursday 3 March.

 

Our evaluators Kimmy from UM Toastmasters Club, Ben, Grace, Kim and yours truly will be doing our best to provide constructive feedback to each of our speaker. As we have been entrusted with the various evaluation duties, we shall endeavour to do so with integrity. In the Open Evaluation session, you may provide further feedback as well.

 

I believe (word of the day) Grammarian Emily's choice of word of the day will be widely used in our Trust and Integrity meeting. Timer Susan and Ah-Counter Andy will be monitoring our commitment to keep to the meeting schedule and to use pause fillers as sparingly as possible. 

 

Thank you, everyone, for taking up the various meeting roles. Without your participation and desire to constantly practice and improve on your speaking and evaluation skills, our meeting will not be possible. To our other Friendship members and guests, please also join us on 1 March, to help us make this meeting another fruitful, delightful and eventful meeting.

 

Your VPE,

Angeline

Area W3 Speech Contests Results

Area W3 Contests Results

Report by Angeline Lee, Area W3 Governor

Past President Freddie Yap with his Area trophy

Congratulations to Freddie who is first runner-up in the Area W3 International Speech Contest held on Thursday 3 March 2011.

Our Area W3 International Speech Contest and Table Topics Contest were held at G Tower, with Exact ADC Toastmasters Club as the contest host. Freddie took part in both contests.

There was laughter from the audience as he related his “uncle” story in his “Like Fine Wine” speech. There were more laughter as he told us in his impromptu “If I could travel back in time” speech that he would not have spent all his money on girls, parties and booze and instead listen to his mother’s advice to invest in property.

Joining Freddie at our Area Contests were Friendship members Area W3 Governor Angeline, VPPR Alexandra, Past President Lay Theng, Grace, Susan, Daphne and Sivadas.

Friendship members flanking Freddie are Alexandra, Lay Theng, Andy, Grace & Angeline

Susan and Angeline with KPMG members President Grace, VPM Michelle and Suresh

Here are the results of our Area Contests:

Area W3 International Speech Contest

Champion – Teo Soo Loon (Exact ADC)

First runner-up – Freddie Yap (Friendship)

Area W3 Table Topics Contest

Champion – Shirley Cheok (KPMG KL)

First runner-up – Gary Lee (One World)

Special thanks to Andy and Lay Theng who helped out as Contest SAA and ballot-counter respectively.

Guests and members of Area W3

Daphne and Susan are on the left

Photos @ 08 Feb 2011

Report by Angeline Lee, VPE

Dedication to Excellence

Undeterred by the fact that the first and third Tuesday of February were public holidays, Friendship members met up on the Tuesday after our Chinese New Year holiday break. As much as we love public holidays, we were adamant not to be derailed from our journey of  “Dedication to Excellence”, our meeting theme.

To add to the festive celebration, members and guests of Friendship came dressed according to our RED dress code. Grace also brought fortune cookies for our delectation and Chee Hoe provided Chinese New Year songs.

From L: Susan with her guests Daphne, Abe & Dana. 

Also in the picture are VPM Chee Hoe and Treasurer Wai Yee

From L: Past President Tony Lim, VPPR Alexandra, Grace Tan & Marian, President of TTDI Toastmasters Club

True to our meeting theme, first-timer TME Wai Yee had done ample preparation for her role and received an accolade (word of the day) from General Evaluator (GE) Jack Lim, visiting from AFC Toastmasters Club.

Table Topics Master (TTM) Grace Tan decided to do away with the usual Table Topics routine. Each one of us received an ang pow from our generous TTM. Six lucky recipients automatically qualified as Table Topics speakers when our ang pow contained money instead of new year’s greetings.

Split into two teams, the Men Team consisting of Ben, Abe and Dana persuaded us that marriage is better than singlehood. It was the perfect moment for Ben to give us the happy news that he will be ending his bachelor days soon.

The Ladies Team consisting of Jessica, Angeline and Alexandra spoke on why singlehood is better than marriage, with Jessica hilariously explaining that men can’t be trusted. Alexandra’s passion shone through in her well-crafted speech that if we are lucky, we will find our one true love. For those of us who are single, we have the choice to give love to many people e.g. orphans and those less fortunate than us.

In his “Chinese New Year Blessings” speech, Ian told us that this year, he is celebrating Chinese New Year with his new family, Friendship family ! Each of us is a blessing to each other, he said.

Ian with his speech evaluator Ben Fong

For Alexandra, her speech on “Set Yourself on Fire” had inspiring stories of Aung San Suu Kyi and Thomas Edison. Explaining that the fundamental of excellence is passion, she persuaded us to do everything with passion, to feel it and live it.

During our break, we had a loh sang session, which was made possible by Immediate Past President Ben Fong who had thoughtfully provided the loh sang dish.

IPP Ben Fong preparing the lou sang dish

Among other things, we wished for health, wealth, career and family !

After our brief break, the meeting resumed with the Evaluation Session. GE Jack informed us he will be reporting on the good, the bad and the ugly. As we had an unusual Table Topics Session, we also had an unusual Table Topics evaluation. Instead of one evaluator, we had two evaluators, Jessica and Chee Hoe.

Timer Emily with Table Topics evaluator DTM Jessica and evaluator DTM Oi Wah, both visiting from MAICSA Toastmasters Club

For the speech evaluation, DTM Oi Wah was most impressive. Our GE commented that her speech sounded as if it was prepared a few days ago even though it was an impromptu speech. Her inspiring and motivating evaluation speech for Alexandra was a perfect ending to Alexandra’s speech which had the objective to inspire the audience.

For his general evaluation report, GE Jack was full of accolades for our newsletter, our Friendship blog and our Friendship Facebook page. His eloquent manner of speaking impressed Wai Yee’s two guests.

Thank you, GE Jack

The awards for our “Dedication to Excellence” meeting went to
Best Table Topics Speaker – Alexandra
Best Prepared Speech – Alexandra
Best Speech Evaluator – DTM Oi Wah

Alexandra with her Best Table Topics Speaker award & gift, courtesy of TTM Grace Tan

DTM Oi Wah wins the Best Speech Evaluator award

We have had a wonderful festive evening, with our Toastmasters and non-Toastmasters guests. As Ian had said, Friendship family members are indeed a blessing. We look forward to many more wonderful meetings in the Rabbit lunar year !

Group photo